03/17/08

HELENA, Mont. (AP) _ A conservation group says it has an
agreement to protect nearly 1,500 acres of private mining claims
northeast of Yellowstone National Park.

The plan calls for the Trust for Public Land to use 8 million
dollars in federal money to buy the claims and convey them to the
U.S. Forest Service, ending the fight over the proposed New World
Mine near Cooke City.

Alex Diekmann with the Trust for Public Land says they hope to
gain congressional approval for the money over the next several
months.

In 1989, Crown Butte Mines proposed a large gold mine near
Yellowstone. Conservation groups warned it would harm the park's
ecosystem and lawsuits were threatened.

Seven years later, Crown Butte agreed to abandon its planned
mine in exchange for $65 million dollars in federal land and other
assets.

However, a Livingston woman owned most of the claims. Margaret
Reeb wasn't part of the negotiations with the government, and did
not want to sell. She died in 2005.

Her nephews recently reached the agreement giving TPL the right
to purchase the claims and convey the land to the Gallatin and
Custer national forests.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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